As a marker of AUC’s significant contributions to scientific and scholarly research, four papers by three AUC professors were selected for Nature Index 2015, making AUC the top-ranked institution in Egypt in terms of “high-quality scientific articles and research output.”

Compiled by the Nature Publishing Group, Nature Index is a database of scientific publications in 68 high-quality science journals. Because of its selectivity and inclusion of papers from top-tier journals only, Nature Index is a global indicator of high-quality research. It allows institutions, countries and regions to benchmark their research contributions against others globally. It also allows researchers to determine the largest contributors to innovations in their fields.

This year, the AUC papers included in Nature Index were authored by three faculty members: Ahmed Moustafa, associate professor of bioinformatics and genomics; Nageh Allam, associate professor of physics; and Tamer Shoeib, associate professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry.

Moustafa emphasized that the recently established ranking system is the first metric that tracks the quality of the publication in ranking academic institutions. “Nature Index evidently conveys that it is the quality, not the quantity, of the research that leads to the advancement of science,” said Moustafa. “Rather than other simple ranking systems based on the number of publications by faculty members of academic institutes, Nature Index accounts for the ‘quality and significance’ of the published ‘primary’ research articles,” he said.

Moustafa co-authored two papers included in the index under life sciences, both concerned with marine phytoplankton. “I am exceedingly proud that AUC is ranked the top in Egypt and particularly happy that my research and published articles received this remarkable and international recognition,” said Moustafa.

Papers authored by Allam and Shoeib were chosen in Nature Index’s chemistry field. Allam’s research demonstrated for the first time the synthesis of titania nanotubes with ultrathin wall thickness and their use for solar water splitting as a way to harness the power of the sun into clean, renewable energy using hydrogen.

Shoeib’s research aims to deepen understanding of many of the most widely used cancer drugs worldwide to promote personalized chemotherapy treatment of cancer patients. This would ultimately lead to better patient advice through more predictable outcomes, lower side effects, improved prognosis and reduced health care costs. “AUC always contributes to high-quality science, and it is great to be recognized in such a prestigious publication,” Shoeib said.

AmalEsawi, professor of mechanical engineering, associate dean for graduate studies and research in the School of Sciences and Engineering, and director of the PhD program, said that producing quality papers that are published in top-tier journals is a practice strongly encouraged at the school, even if it takes double or triple the time and effort to get the paper published. “The impact of the research is guaranteed to be much higher, and AUC's name will appear with world-class universities that shape the science world around us,” said Esawi, “My heartfelt congratulations to my colleagues for their outstanding work and great achievements.”

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